Call to the pen
Fansided

Washington Nationals: The last World Series experience

By Bill Felber

(Original Caption) This is the gang that will face the Giants in the World Series which starts off next week. Front row, left to right; Sam Rice, Walter Stewart, Leon Goslin, Al Schacht, President Clark Griffith, Manager Joe Cronin, Dave Harris, Cliff Bolton and Nick Altrock, Second Row left to right: Jack Russell, Al Thomas, Ed Chapman, Cecil Travis, Rog Burke, John Kerr, Monte Weaver and Buddy Myer. Third row, left to right: Luke Sewell, Moe Berg, Earl Whitehill- Ray Prim.- Fred Schulte Heinie Mansb, Alex McColl-0ssie Bluage- Jow Kuhel, Alvin Crowder and Bob Boken. Seated in front of Griffith is the mascot Mahorney. The World Series starts Oct. 3rd. (Photo by George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images)
(Original Caption) This is the gang that will face the Giants in the World Series which starts off next week. Front row, left to right; Sam Rice, Walter Stewart, Leon Goslin, Al Schacht, President Clark Griffith, Manager Joe Cronin, Dave Harris, Cliff Bolton and Nick Altrock, Second Row left to right: Jack Russell, Al Thomas, Ed Chapman, Cecil Travis, Rog Burke, John Kerr, Monte Weaver and Buddy Myer. Third row, left to right: Luke Sewell, Moe Berg, Earl Whitehill- Ray Prim.- Fred Schulte Heinie Mansb, Alex McColl-0ssie Bluage- Jow Kuhel, Alvin Crowder and Bob Boken. Seated in front of Griffith is the mascot Mahorney. The World Series starts Oct. 3rd. (Photo by George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 2
Next
Washington’s hard hitting 1933 outfield. Heinie Manush, left fielder; Fred Schulte, centerfielder; and Goose Goslin, rightfielder.
Washington’s hard hitting 1933 outfield. Heinie Manush, left fielder; Fred Schulte, centerfielder; and Goose Goslin, rightfielder. /

Washington Nationals: The last World Series experience

In Washington’s usual batting order, Cronin was preceded by outfielders Heine Manush and Goose Goslin. Boasting a team-high .336 batting average, Manush had been a fixture in Washington’s lineup since coming over from St. Louis several seasons earlier in a trade for Goslin, of all people.

The Washington Nationals reacquired the Goose prior to the 1933 season, and he rewarded that decision with a .452 slugging average, just seven percentage points behind Manush.

More from Call to the Pen

In time, Manush, Goslin, and Cronin all would be inducted into Cooperstown, as would 43-year-old reserve outfielder Sam Rice, a hero of Washington’s two previous pennant winners in 1924 and 1925.

The pitching staff lacks similar star-power, but it did feature a pair of 20-game winners. Alvin ‘General’ Crowder, who got his nickname from the World War I draft boss Gen. Enoch Crowder, went 24-15 in 52 appearances, 35 of them starts. Left-hander Earl Whitehill compiled a 22-8 record in 37 starts.

In time, the on-field deeds of all those players would be eclipsed by the battlefield accomplishments of a 19-year-old reserve on that Senators team. Infielder Cecil Travis would play in just 18 games that season but would become a three-time All-Star in his own right before being inducted into the Army shortly after Pearl Harbor.

Seeing combat during the Battle of the Bulge, he sustained two frostbitten toes that required amputation, hampering his ability to continue his career post-war. Travis retired in 1947 with a lifetime .314 batting average and the realization that the war had knocked out three and one-half of his prime seasons.

In that 1933 World Series, the Senators ran up against superior Giants pitching in the form of left-hander Carl Hubbell, possibly the best pitcher of the time. A 23-game regular season winner, Hubbell beat the Senators 4-2 in the Series opener at the Polo Grounds and beat them again 2-1 in the fourth game at Griffith Stadium.

Whitehill delivered Washington’s only victory in the third game. In the deciding fifth game, New York held a 3-0 lead until the Senators tied the game in the bottom of the sixth on outfielder Fred Schulte’s three-run home run off Hal Schumacher.

But the game continued scoreless until the 10th inning when Giants slugger Mel Ott provided a controversial winning run. He slammed a low line drive toward some temporary seats in deep center field. Schulte raced after the ball and got a glove on it, but toppled into the seats and lost control of he ball, which bounced down an aisleway. The hit was initially ruled a ground-rule double, but following an umpire conference that call was changed and was Ott permitted to circle the bases.

In the bottom of the 10th, Giants veteran Dolf Luque struck out Washington first baseman Joey Kuhel while Cronin represented the tying run at second base to end the game.

Next. Nationals: Why Expos fans should celebrate. dark

It was the kind of disappointment with which Washington Nationals fans have become familiar in recent seasons.

Home/Washington Nationals